Research advances in rice blast resistance genes

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important food crop in China. Its growth and development are threatened by rice blast, which leads to huge grain losses in severe cases. Cultivating and deploying rice varieties that contain broad-spectrum resistance (R) genes is the most economical and effective strategy to prevent and control rice blast. In general, rice blast resistance genes code nucleotide-binding (NB), leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptors (NLRs) that play a crucial role in the resistance to rice blast. Therefore, it is essential to clone NLR genes and elucidate the recognition and activation mechanisms between NLRs and effectors for rice disease resistance breeding. In this review, we summarize and provide perspectives on the research progress of NLR genes, the recognition between NLR proteins and effectors in rice, as well as the role and mechanism of paired NLR proteins in the resistance, hoping to provide reference for rice disease resistance breeding.